Phil Arvia: These Bears play nice

Phil Arvia

Tuesday

Sep 25, 2007 at 12:01 AMSep 25, 2007 at 2:36 PM

Outside the locker room late Sunday, Tommie Harris, wearing a sadistic looking brace over a knee he described as “loose,” was predicting he’d be back next week. Not too far inside the door, Cedric Benson and a reporter were debating the accuracy of some of the reporter’s work the running back had not bothered to read.

Outside the locker room late Sunday, Tommie Harris, wearing a sadistic looking brace over a knee he described as “loose,” was predicting he’d be back next week. Not too far inside the door, Cedric Benson and a reporter were debating the accuracy of some of the reporter’s work the running back had not bothered to read.

Ron Turner had just finished putting forth the preposterous notion that Rex Grossman “was playing good football” through three quarters, and when pressed on the suggestion, he said, “He played some good football at times, yeah.”

Not good enough, apparently.

Judging by the contortions Lovie Smith went through Monday to avoid saying he had removed Grossman as his starting quarterback, you have to figure that’s exactly what he’s done — or, at the very least, he wants Grossman to understand that Smith’s blanket support is no longer a given.

Either way, that we are still mining Smith’s words for hidden clues is remarkable considering so many Bears have had so many more opportunities to savage their teammate. It is a testament to Smith’s leadership that even as Grossman appears to have been demoted, he has not been disparaged within the ranks.

While he left the impression that Grossman is no longer his guy, Smith showed all his guys that he won’t hang them out to dry until it is absolutely unavoidable.

“Will Rex Grossman start Sunday?” Smith said, repeating a question put to him. “Well, our evaluation process is going on right now. If you come out to practice Wednesday, you’ll have a better idea who will be starting at all positions.”

He got a little feisty with a reporter who asked if his decision had been made, saying, “My public decision that I have to tell you right now?”

No, his personal decision.

“I’m always thinking ahead, yes,” Smith said.

Sometimes I need to think back. And Smith’s pas de deux with a member of the press brought me back to the previous evening. A few steps from Turner, quote vultures still picking over carcasses all around him, Desmond Clark dressed quietly.

I asked for a moment. He consented.

I told him I’d read earlier in the week of certain former Super Bears — you know the breed — suggesting the defense and the offense must be at odds. This was a frequent plot line in the Ditka days, and members of that defense were sometimes rather frank about their displeasure with the substandard work from their teammates on the other side of the ball.

Clark considered the current team’s defense and said, “They have every right to be upset.”

“We’re a bunch of guys who are all in it together,” Clark continued. “You’re not going to find this locker room getting divided or pointing fingers or saying, you know, ‘If this would’ve happened on that side of the ball ... ’ This isn’t that type of team. If it was, you couldn’t say anything to them — but it’s not.

“The only time it’s defense against the offense is when we’re playing games in the locker room. That’s the truth. It’s always one unit. There’s never been a divide, or us against y’all, or, ‘You need to do this because we’re doing this.’ That’s never been the case since I’ve been here.”

Earlier, Brian Urlacher took a question about how difficult things become for the defense when the offense turns the ball over. He answered in a way that reinforced Clark’s sentiments, saying, “If we turn it over, we’ve got to get it back for the offense. That’s all it comes down to.”

And of Grossman, Urlacher said, “The guy went through it all last year. I’m sure he’s going to go through it again this year, and I’m sure he’ll come back and get through it. It can’t get any worse for the guy.”

Maybe it got worse Monday. But at least Smith and Grossman’s teammates didn’t make it any worse than it had to be.

Phil Arvia can be reached at parvia@dailysouthtown.com

More Bears coverage can be found online at www.dailysouthtown.com/sports

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